Directions: Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow…
2023
Directions: Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct/most appropriate option.
1 Love came to Flora asking for a flower
That would of flowers be undisputed queen,
The lily and the rose, long, long had been
Rivals for that high honor. Bards of power
5 Had sung their claims. ‘The rose can never
tower
Like the pale lily with her Juno mien’ –
‘But is the lily lovelier ?’ Thus between
Flower-factions rang the strife in Psyche’s
bower.
‘Give me a flower delicious as the rose
10 And stately as the lily in her pride’ –
‘But of what colour ?’ – ‘Rose-red’, Love first
chose,
Then prayed, ‘No, lily-white – or, both provide;’
And Flora gave the lotus, ‘rose-red’ dyed,
And ‘lily-white’, the queenliest flower that
blows.
Which of the following attributes is not associated with the lily ?
- A.
The colour red
- B.
Stateliness
- C.
The colour pale white
- D.
Loveliness
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept: In a ‘not associated with’ comprehension question, every descriptive phrase in the passage is tied to the specific noun it modifies. Trace each option’s word back to the line that names it, and see whether the poem actually assigns that word to the target flower or to the other one.
Application:
‘Like the pale lily with her Juno mien’ ties paleness and a dignified, queenly bearing to the lily.
‘stately as the lily in her pride’ ties stateliness directly to the lily.
‘But is the lily lovelier?’ raises loveliness as a quality the poem specifically debates about the lily.
Love first asks for ‘Rose-red’, and Flora’s closing lines dye the lotus in both ‘rose-red’ and ‘lily-white’ — but through the whole poem, red is the rose’s own colour word and white is the lily’s own colour word.
Cross-check:
Option | What the poem gives to the lily |
|---|---|
Stateliness | Named directly — ‘stately… in her pride’ |
The colour pale white | Named directly — ‘pale lily’, ‘lily-white’ |
Loveliness | Raised directly — ‘is the lily lovelier?’ |
The colour red | Never the lily’s own colour word — reserved for the rose as ‘Rose-red’ (the closing lotus is later dyed in both shades, but red itself is always the rose’s word). |
So the lily is described as pale/white, stately, and the subject of the poem’s own claim to loveliness — but red is used only as the rose’s own colour word, even though Flora’s final lotus is dyed in both shades. That makes ‘the colour red’ the attribute not associated with the lily.